SYLLABUS FOR ECE 409 Modern Control Theory

TIME and Place: See the class schedule at the main Clemson website
INSTRUCTOR: Darren Dawson, Professor
OFFICE: EIB 320
Office Hrs: See the ECE 409 Web Page
TEXT: Feedback Control of Dynamic Systems, Franklin
Grading: Homework - 5%, Exams 1 and 2 27.5% each, Final - 40%
Exams are closed book and closed notes with one 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper (both sides)
allowed for equations or whatever. Each subsequent test, you can bring your previous sheet
in additional to the sheet allowed for the present exam; therefore, by the final examination,
you will have three sheets. The exams will be approximately spaced out evenly throughout
the semester.
Attendance is not mandatory. If you skip classes you will find homework and exams more
difficult. The text will not always be followed exactly. In addition questions asked by those
who have been absent tend to hold up the remainder of the class. You are responsible for all
material covered in class regardless of absences.
Homework will not be accepted late. If you have a valid reason for failing to meet
deadlines, you should see me in advance. Collaboration on homework is allowed, since one
of the main objectives of homework is to get you talking and thinking about the material.
Copying someone else's homework is just plain unethical.

Questions in class are strongly encouraged. The worst thing I can do is move too slowly
and bore you. The second worst thing I can do is move too quickly and confuse you. If
either of these occurs, it is your responsibility to speak up. You are paying for an education,
and if the material is not presented clearly with confusion being eliminated shortly after it
sets in, you are not getting what you contracted for. On the other hand, if I never confuse
you I am being unduly conservative and hence not conscientious. There is a fine balance
here, with you as students and me as instructor each having very definite responsibilities for
keeping open all channels of communication. It is extremely difficult to teach a course
without some sort of real time feedback.
General: We will not have time in class to go over homework and exam solutions. The
solutions will be handed out and if there are still questions after you have read them, you can
ask for explanations in class. Note that in particular you should not skip class immediately
after the exam assuming that we will go over the exam and hence cover no new material.
Course Outline - Topics with Text Sections
1. Feedback control - (1.1 - 1.4)
2. System modeling in the time domain (2.1 - 2.6)
3. Dynamic response (3.1 - 3.5)
4. Basic properties of feedback - (4.1 - 4.3) (Exam I)
5. Stability analysis (4.4)
6. Root-locus analysis (5.1 - 5.5)
7. Root-locus design (5.6)
8. Frequency-response analysis - (6.1 - 6.6) (Exam II)
9. Frequency-response design - (6.7, 6.9)
10. State-space models (7.1 - 7.4)